A looming internal review of the LNP Government’s amazing fall from power in Queensland is gearing up to mostly blame former Premier Campbell Newman for the loss, according to party sources.

LNP elders Rob Borbidge and Joan Sheldon are due to complete the review within weeks amid on-going party angst over the stunning defeat by Annastacia Palaszczuk’s underdog Labor Party.

However, Newman supporters claim the party machine is unfairly pointing the finger at the former Premier, especially his unpopularity during the election campaign which ended with his government’s 67-seat majority evaporating in the January 31 poll.

“Sure Campbell’s unpopularity with the electorate played a part, but it was just one of many contributing factors,” one informed party source said.

“The party hierarchy must also accept a lot of the blame, and the complete absence of any marginal seats campaign is a perfect example of that.”

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Tony Abbott’s unpopular decision to award a knightood to Prince Phillip was considered a factor in the LNP’s Qld election loss. Photo: AAP

The source said that LNP branches were being told by party chiefs that “it’s all Campbell’s fault” while neglecting to concede that the party’s timid campaign tactics were also responsible.

“Where was the sandbagging of the marginal seats to help local members during the campaign?  There was also the party’s great reluctance throughout the campaign to go on the attack and remind people of the previous Labor Government’s appalling record.

“And what about things like the Abbott Government’s bewildering knighthood for Prince Philip five days out from polling day?

“People should not forget that just half a per cent more in the LNP’s vote would have seen them still in government today.”

Leaked LNP analysis by its campaign strategists soon after the election zeroed in on  Mr Newman’s “toxic leadership” and a dramatic nosedive in his popularity which put the party at a “serious disadvantage”.

Mr Newman’s net favourability of minus 10 points heading into the election reportedly reached a low of minus 31 points in the final days, with voters intensely disliking his aggressive style.

The continuing party recriminations over the reasons behind the LNP’s election loss comes amid revelations this week (April 9) by Mr Newman that he offered to quit twice in the lead-up to the poll if it meant the party would win.

But he was told by party bosses – including LNP State President Bruce McIver and LNP state director Brad Henderson – that he should stay on.

Bruce McIver and other LNP heavyweights told Campbell Newman to stay put. Photo: AAP

Mr Newman told the Courier Mail: “I put it on the table because I wanted to make sure that we didn’t go into the 2015 election with me pulling the team down.

“I wanted them to have the best opportunity. I was genuine about it and quite happy to have given a new leader a chance to lead us into the election if I was an electoral liability.”

On Friday, the Courier Mail quoted an unnamed source who said he wished Campbell Newman would “just go away … like Anna Bligh”.  

Current party leader Lawrence Springborg also spoke to the newspaper, attempting to distance himself from Mr Newman’s comments.

Friend and former Cairns state MP Gavin King confirmed that Mr Newman  told him that he had offered to resign after the July 2014 Stafford by-election and again at the end of the year.

“He saw some of the writing on the wall in terms of his personal popularity and the impact it inevitably had,” Mr King told Fairfax Radio.

“He’s a pragmatist and if it meant the LNP would have won without him there, he would have done it.”

Mr Newman’s take on the reasons behind the election loss is certain to be covered in his planned biography which should be released by the end of the year after a deal was struck with independent Victorian publisher, Connor Court Publishing.

Mr King, a journalist, is helping Mr Newman write the “warts and all” book about the former premier’s life in local and state politics in Queensland stretching over more than a decade.